Ex-Labor gone independent Senator Fatima Payman claims she is being “punished” by Anthony Albanese, with the prime minister “withholding” the staff she needs.
Payman told Crikey crossbench senators get five electorate staff plus two personal staffers — but the personal staff is allocated at the discretion of the prime minister, who hasn’t granted her request yet.
“He’s withholding those two additional staff from my office … maybe this is his way of punishing me, putting me in the naughty corner,” Payman said.
“It’s really impacting our productivity here in the office — it is a lot of work to get through all the legislation, and we’re doing our best.”
Payman, who went independent in early July, said she had written to Albanese and Special Minister of State Don Farrell on “multiple occasions” without hearing back.
“I think it’s quite unprofessional to keep a senator from her full staffing and resource allocation,” she said.
“Frankly, I think it’s a form of discrimination.”
The prime minister’s office declined to comment on the record.
Crikey understands the staff allocation wasn’t an automatic entitlement, and that each crossbencher needs to provide a justification as to why they need the staff. Crikey understands considering an application can take weeks or months, and that Payman wasn’t the only one waiting for an answer.
Crikey understands independent Senator Gerard Rennick, who previously represented the Liberal National Party, is also still waiting for his staff to be allocated, and that David Van, a former Liberal gone independent senator, had to wait two months for his staff to be confirmed.
According to the Parliamentary Library’s FlagPost blog, the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984 gives the prime minister “significant discretion to determine the employment arrangements” for staff hired under the act.
“This includes the discretionary allocation of personal staff to ministers, the opposition, office-holders, former leaders, leaders of minority parties, recognised parties and independents,” the blog post from July 2022 says.
In June 2022, Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the incoming Albanese government had resolved to make some “sensible savings” by reducing the staff allocated to crossbenchers.
“We’re making savings in the order of over a million dollars, $1.5 million in terms of our staffing budget that flows through the government,” she said. “This is a sensible step.”
Independent Senator David Pocock, who had to wait about six weeks to get his staff after being elected in 2022, has argued staff allocation should be decided by the proposed new Independent Parliamentary Standards Commission instead of the prime minister.
